Sensors and Actuators B 107 (2005) 666–677

Ammonia sensors and their applications—a review

Björn Timmer∗ , Wouter Olthuis, Albert van den Berg
MESA+ Research Institute, University of Twente, Enschede, P.O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands

Received 14 May 2004; received in revised form 12 November 2004; accepted 15 November 2004
Available online 16 March 2005

Abstract

Many scientific papers have been written concerning gas sensors for different sensor applications using several sensing principles. This
review focuses on sensors and sensor systems for gaseous ammonia. Apart from its natural origin, there are many sources of ammonia,
like the chemical industry or intensive life-stock. The survey that we present here treats different application areas for ammonia sensors
or measurement systems and different techniques available for making selective ammonia sensing devices. When very low concentra-
tions are to be measured, e.g. less than 2 ppb for environmental monitoring and 50 ppb for diagnostic breath analysis, solid-state ammonia
sensors are not sensitive enough. In addition, they lack the required selectivity to other gasses that are often available in much higher
concentrations. Optical methods that make use of lasers are often expensive and large. Indirect measurement principles have been de-
scribed in literature that seems very suited as ammonia sensing devices. Such systems are suited for miniaturization and integration to make
them suitable for measuring in the small gas volumes that are normally available in medical applications like diagnostic breath analysis
equipment.
© 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Gas sensors; Ammonia; Miniaturization

1. Introduction
Thousands of articles have been published that deal with
some sort of gas sensor. This makes it virtually impossible to
write a review article, completely covering this area. When
looking in the scientific literature, summarizing articles can
be found that deal with specific application areas or specific
types of gas sensors. Examples of review articles about ap-
plications for gas sensors are: high volume control of com-
bustibles in the chemical industry [1], exhaust gas sensors for
emission control in automotive applications [2,3] or monitor-
ing of dairy products for the food industry [4]. Articles that
emphasize a specific type of gas sensor are written about, for
example, solid state gas sensors [5], conducting polymer gas
sensors using e.g. polyaniline [6], mixed oxide gas sensors
[7], amperometric gas sensors [8], catalytic field-effect de-
∗Corresponding author. Tel.: +31 53 489 2755; fax: +31 53 489 2287.
E-mail address: b.h.timmer@el.utwente.nl (B. Timmer).
URL: http://www.bios.el.utwente.nl.
vices [9] or gas sensor arrays used in electronic noses [4,10].
The review presented here will focus on one specific gas,
ammonia.
After a brief introduction of the origin of ammonia in
the earth’s atmosphere, we consider various artificial sources
of ammonia in the air, such as intensive life-stock with
the decomposition process of manure, or the chemical in-
dustry for the production of fertilizers and for refrigera-
tion systems. Subsequently, different application areas for
gaseous ammonia analyzers are investigated with a sum-
mary of the ammonia concentration levels of interest to
these different areas. Applications in the agricultural and
industrial chemistry areas are discussed, as well as envi-
ronmental, automotive and medical applications for ammo-
nia sensing devices. The overview of application areas pro-
vides us with an indication of the required specifications,
like detection limits and response time, which will be used
as a guideline for the consideration of different measur-
ing principles and techniques, as discussed in the next sec-
tion.

0925-4005/$ – see front matter © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.snb.2004.11.054
 B. Timmer et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 107 (2005) 666–677
2. Sources of ammonia
Ammonia is a natural gas that is present throughout the
atmosphere. The relatively low concentrations, of low-ppb
to sub-ppb levels [11], have been significantly higher in the
past. Earth history goes back over 4.5 billion years, when it
was formed from the same cloud of gas and interstellar dust
that created our sun, the rest of the solar system and even the
entire galaxy. The larger outer planets had enough gravita-
tional pull to remain covered in clouds of gas. The smaller
inner planets, like earth, formed as molten rocky planets with
only a small gaseous atmosphere. It is thought that the early
earth formed a chemically reducing atmosphere by 3.8 to
4.1 billion years ago, made up of hydrogen and helium with
large concentrations of methane and ammonia. Most of this
early atmosphere was lost into space during the history of
the planet and the remaining was diluted by a newly form-
ing atmosphere. This new atmosphere was formed mostly
from the outgassing of volatile compounds: nitrogen, water
vapour, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, ammo-
nia, hydrochloric acid and sulphur produced by the constant
volcanic eruptions that besieged the earth.
The earth’s surface began to cool and stabilize, creating
the solid crust with its rocky terrain. Clouds of water began to
form as the earth began to cool, producing enormous volumes
of rain water that formed the early oceans. The combination
of a chemically reducing atmosphere and large amounts of
liquid water may even have created the conditions that led to
the origin of life on earth. Ammonia was probably a compo-
nent of significant importance in this process [12–17].
Today, most of the ammonia in our atmosphere is emitted
direct or indirect by human activity. The worldwide emission
of ammonia per year was estimated in 1980 by the European
community commission for environment and quality of life
to be 20–30 Tg [18]. Other investigations, summarized by
Warneck [11], found values between 22 and 83 Tg. Fig. 1
shows an estimate of the annual ammonium deposition rate
Fig. 1. Annual ammonium deposition (100 mg/m2 ) [11].
667
world wide, showing a maximum deposition in central- and
Western Europe [11].
In literature, three major classes of current ammonia
sources are described [11]. Although the earth’s atmosphere
comprises almost 80% nitrogen, most nitrogen is unavail-
able to plants and consumers of plants. There are two natural
pathways for atmospheric nitrogen to enter the ecosystem,
a process called nitrification. The first pathway, atmospheric
deposition, is the direct deposition of ammonium and nitrate
salts by addition of these particulates to the soil in the form of
dissolved dust or particulates in rain water. This is enhanced
in the agricultural sector by the addition of large amounts of
ammonium to cultivated farmland in the form of fertilizer.
However, when too much ammonium is added to the soil,
this leads to acidification, eutrophication, change in vegeta-
tion [19] and an increase in atmospheric ammonia concentra-
tion [20]. The second way of nitrification is bacterial nitrogen
fixation. Some species of bacteria can bind nitrogen. They re-
lease an excess of ammonia into the environment. Most of this
ammonia is converted to ammonium ions because most soils
are slightly acidic [6]. The contribution of nitrogen fixation
to the total worldwide ammonia emission is approximated to
be 1.0 Tg/year [18].
A larger source in the overall nitrogen cycle is ammoni-
fication, a series of metabolic activities that decompose or-
ganic nitrogen like manure from agriculture and wildlife or
leaves [12]. This is performed by bacteria and fungi. The
released ammonium ions and gaseous ammonia is again con-
verted to nitrite and nitrate by bacteria [12,21]. The nitrogen
cycle is illustrated in Fig. 2. The worldwide ammonia emis-
sion resulting from domestic animals is approximated to be
20–35 Tg/year [11].
A third source of ammonia is combustion, both from
chemical plants and motor vehicles. Ammonia is produced
by the chemical industry for the production of fertilizers and
for the use in refrigeration systems. The total emission of
ammonia from combustion is about 2.1–8.1 Tg/year [11].
668 B. Timmer et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 107 (2005) 666–677
Fig. 2. Nitrogen cycle (Copyright University of Missouri, MU Extension WQ252).
There are numerous smaller sources of ammonia, e.g. sur-
face water. Normally seas and oceans act as a sink for ammo-
nia but occasionally they act as an ammonia source [22,23].
Ammonia is produced because of the existence of ammonium
ions that are transformed to gaseous ammonia by alkaline
rainwater [23].
3. Application areas of ammonia sensors
There are many ways to detect ammonia. High concentra-
tions are easy to detect because the gas has a very penetrat-
ing odour. With respect to other odorous gasses, the human
nose is very sensitive to ammonia. To quantify the ammonia
concentration or determine lower concentrations of ammo-
nia, the human nose fails. However, in many occasions, the
ammonia concentration has to be known, even at ultra low
concentrations of less than parts per billion in air (ppb) [24].
This section focuses on four major areas that are of inter-
est for measuring ammonia concentrations; environmental,
automotive, chemical industry and medical diagnostics, and
describes why there is a need to know the ammonia con-
centration in these fields. Where possible the concentration
levels of interest are given for the different application areas.
3.1. Environmental gas analysis
The smell of ammonia near intensive farming areas or
when manure is distributed over farmland is very unpleasant.
Furthermore, exposure to high ammonia concentrations is
a serious health threat. Concentration levels near intensive
farming can be higher than the allowed exposure limit. This
results in unhealthy situations for farmers and animals inside
the stables, where the concentrations are highest.
Another interesting point is the formation of ammonium
salt aerosols. Sulphuric acid and nitric acid react in the at-
mosphere with ammonia to form ammonium sulphate and
ammonium nitrate [25]. These salts are condensation nuclei,
forming several nanometre sized airborne particles. There-
fore, ammonia reduces the quantity of acids in the atmo-
sphere. These ammonia aerosols have a sun-blocking func-
tion, as can often be seen above large cities or industrial areas,
as shown in Fig. 3. These clouds of smog have a temperature
reducing effect. This effect however, is presently hardly no-
ticeable due to the more intense global warming caused by
the greenhouse effect.
Ammonia levels in the natural atmosphere can be very
low, down to sub-ppb concentration levels above the oceans.
The average ambient ammonia concentration in the Nether-
lands is about 1.9 ppb. Very accurate ammonia detectors with
a detection limit of 1 ppb or lower are required for measuring
such concentrations. Near intensive farming areas, ammo-
nia concentrations are much higher, up to more than 10 ppm
[26]. It depends on the actual application what concentration
levels are of interest. This also determines the time resolu-
tion of the required analysis equipment. Monitoring ambient
ammonia levels for environmental analysis does not demand
 B. Timmer et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 107 (2005) 666–677
Fig. 3. Smog, or clouds of aerosols, has a sun-blocking effect.
for extremely fast detectors. When an analyzer is used in a
controlled venting system in stables, a shorter response time
is required in the order of a minute.
3.2. Automotive industry
The automotive industry is interested in measuring atmo-
spheric pollution for three reasons [27]. First, exhaust gasses
are monitored because they form the major part of gaseous
pollution in urban sites. For instance, ammonia exhaust is
associated with secondary airborne particulate matter, like
ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulphate aerosols, as dis-
cussed in the previous section. Ammonium aerosols are mea-
sured to be up to 17% of the particulate matter concentration
smaller than 2.5 ␮m [27]. Ammonia emissions have been
measured up to 20 mg/s or up to 8 ppm ammonia in exhaust
gas [28,29].
A second reason for the automotive industry to be inter-
ested in detectors for atmospheric pollution like ammonia, is
air quality control in the passenger compartment [27]. Mod-
ern cars are frequently equipped with an air conditioning sys-
tem. This system controls the temperature and the humidity
of the air inside the car. Fresh air can be taken from the outside
of the car or it can be created by conditioning and circulat-
ing air inside the car. When there is low quality air outside
the car, like air with smoke near a fire or a factory, the sys-
tem should not take up new air from outside. A major source
of unpleasant smell is the smell of manure near farms and
meadows. This smell is caused by the increased ammonia
concentration in these areas. For indoor air quality monitors,
the detection limit should lie around the smell detection limit
of about 50 ppm. Moreover, for such an application it is im-
portant that the sensor responds very fast. The air inlet valve
should be closed before low-quality gas is allowed into the
car. A response time in the order of seconds is required.
A third application for ammonia sensors in the automotive
area is NOx reduction in diesel engines. Modern diesel en-
gines operate at high air-to-fuel ratios that result in an excess
of oxygen in the exhaust gas, resulting in large concentrations
of NO and NO2 (NOx ) [30,31]. Toxic NOx concentrations are
lowered significantly by selective catalytic reduction (SCR)
669
of NOx with NH3 , according to Eq. (1) [32]. Therefore, am-
monia is injected into the exhaust system.
4NO + 4NH3 + O2 → 4N2 + 6H2 O (1)
It is unfavourable to inject too much ammonia for this is emit-
ted into the atmosphere where it adds to the total pollution,
known as ammonia-slip. The injected amount can be opti-
mised by measuring the excess ammonia concentration in
the exhaust system. The concentration level that is of interest
for this application depends on the controllability of the setup.
When the controllability of the ammonia injection is very ac-
curate, the used sensor should be able to measure very low
ammonia concentrations in a few seconds. The sensors that
are currently used have detection limits in the order of a few
ppm [30] and a response time of about 1 min. Because mea-
surements are performed in exhaust pipes, the sensor should
be able to withstand elevated temperatures.
3.3. Chemical industry
The major method for chemically producing ammonia is
the Haber process. The German scientist Fritz Haber started
working on a way to produce ammonia in 1904 [33]. In
1918 he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his inven-
tion. Ammonia is synthesized from nitrogen and hydrogen
at an elevated temperature of about 500 ◦ C and a pressure
of about 300 kPa using a porous metal catalyst. The process
was scaled up to industrial proportions by Carl Bosch. The
process is therefore often referred to as the Haber–Bosch
process.
Ammonia production was initiated by the demand for an
inexpensive supply of nitrogen for the production of nitric
acid, a key component of explosives. Today, the majority
of all man made ammonia is used for fertilizers or chemical
production. These fertilizers contain ammonium salts and are
used in the agricultural sector.
Another substantial part is used for refrigeration. Ammo-
nia was among the first refrigerants used in mechanical sys-
tems. Almost all refrigeration facilities used for food pro-
cessing make use of ammonia because it has the ability to
cool below 0 ◦ C [34,35]. The first practical refrigerating ma-
chine was developed in 1834 and commercialised in 1860.
It used vapour compression as the working principle. The
basic principle: a closed cycle of evaporation, compression,
condensation and expansion, is still in use today [36].
Because the chemical industry, fertilizer factories and re-
frigeration systems make use of almost pure ammonia, a leak
in the system can result in life-threatening situations. All fa-
cilities using ammonia should have an alarm system detect-
ing and warning for dangerous ammonia concentrations. The
maximum allowed workspace ammonia level is tabulated to
be 20 ppm. This is a long-term maximum and no fast detec-
tors are required, a response time in the order of minutes is
sufficient. Especially in ammonia production plants, where
ammonia is produced, detectors should be able to withstand
670 B. Timmer et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 107 (2005) 666–677
Fig. 4. Electron micrograph of H. pylori.
the high temperature, up to 500 ◦ C, applied in the production
process.
3.4. Medical applications for ammonia sensors
High concentrations of ammonia form a threat to the hu-
man health. The lower limit of human ammonia perception
by smell is tabulated to be around 50 ppm, corresponding to
about 40 ␮g/m3 [37]. However, even below this limit, am-
monia is irritating to the respiratory system, skin and eyes
[38,39]. The long term allowed concentration that people
may work in is therefore set to be 20 ppm. Immediate and
severe irritation of the nose and throat occurs at 500 ppm. Ex-
posure to high ammonia concentrations, 1000 ppm or more,
can cause pulmonary oedema; accumulation of fluid in the
lungs. It can take up to 24 h before the symptoms develop:
difficulty with breathing and tightness in the chest. Short-
term exposure to such high ammonia concentrations can lead
to fatal or severe long term respiratory system and lung disor-
ders [40]. Extremely high concentrations, 5000–10,000 ppm,
are suggested lethal within 5–10 min. However, accident re-
constructions have proven that the lethal dose is higher [41].
Longer periods of exposure to low ammonia concentration
are not believed to cause long-term health problems. There
is no accumulation in the body since it is a natural body
product, resulting from protein and nucleic acid metabolism.
Ammonia is excreted from the body in the form of urea and
ammonium salts in urine. Some ammonia is removed from
the body through sweat glands.
As being a natural body product, ammonia is also pro-
duced by the human body [12]. The amount of produced am-
monia is influenced by several parameters. For instance, the
medical community is considerably interested in ammonia
analyzers that can be applied for measuring ammonia lev-
els in exhaled air for the diagnosis of certain diseases [42].
Measuring breath ammonia levels can be a fast diagnostic
method for patients with disturbed urea balance, e.g. due to
kidney disorder [43] or ulcers caused by Helicobacter pylori
bacterial stomach infection, of which an image is shown in
Fig. 4 [44–46]. For such applications, often only a few ml of
exhaled air is available and, at present, no suitable ammonia
breath analyzer exists [47].
Fig. 5. Immune system cells infiltrate the area of the ulcer to attack the
bacteria, leading to inflammation and damage.
After infection, the bacterium penetrates the stomach wall
through the mucous barrier used by the stomach to protect
itself against the digestive acid gastric juice [45]. The bac-
terium’s most distinct characteristic is the abundant produc-
tion of the enzyme urease [48]. It converts urea to ammonia
and bicarbonate to establish a locally neutralizing surround-
ing against penetrating acid. This is one of the features that
make it possible for the bacterium to survive in the human
stomach.
The immune system responds to the infection by sending
antibodies [45]. H. pylori is protected against these infec-
tion fighting agents because it is hidden in the stomach wall
protection layer. The destructive compound that is released
by the antibodies when they attack the stomach lining cells
eventually cause the peptic ulcer, as illustrated in Fig. 5 [45].
The conversion of urea to ammonia and bicarbonate led to
H. pylori infection diagnosis tests. A first method is based on
a gastric CO2 measurement, directly related to the bicarbon-
ate concentration. It makes use of an endoscopic procedure
[48]. Non-invasive test methods are shown based on measur-
ing exhaled CO2 or NH3 levels [46,48]. Because the normal
exhaled CO2 levels are relatively high, isotopically labelled
urea is used. Subsequently, labelled CO2 concentrations are
measured. The results are excellent but the test is expensive
and it requires a radionuclide, limiting the applicability. Us-
ing a breath ammonia analyzer would be a more appropriate
solution. Suitable ammonia analyzers should be able to mea-
sure down to 50 ppb ammonia in exhaled air, containing CO2
concentrations up to 3% [42]. When measuring in exhaled
air, the used analysis equipment should have a reasonable re-
sponse time of at most a few minutes and often only small
volumes of analyte gas will be available.
Ammonia levels in blood are also of interest in the sports
medicine. During activity the human body produces ammo-
nia. Ammonia can diffuse out of the blood into the lungs when
the ammonia levels become higher than the ammonia levels
 B. Timmer et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 107 (2005) 666–677 671

Table 1
Requirements for ammonia analysis equipment in different application areas
Application Detection limit Required Temperature Remarks
response range
time
Environmental
Monitoring ambient conditions 0.1 ppb to >200 ppm [24] Minutes 0–40 ◦ C Reduce environmental pollution
Measure in stables 1 to >25 ppm [26] ∼1 min 10–40 ◦ C Protect livestock animals and farmers
Automotive
Measure NH3 emission from vehicles 4–>2000 g/min [28] Seconds Up to 300 ◦ C NH3 emission is not regulated at this time
(concentration unknown)
Passenger cabinet air control 50 ppm [37] ∼1 s 0–40 ◦ C Automotive air quality sensor mainly aim
on NOx and CO levels [26]
Detect ammonia slip 1–100 ppm [29] Seconds Up to 600 ◦ C Control Urea injection in SCR NOx
reduction
Chemical
Leakage alarm 20–>1000 ppm [37,40] Minutes Up to 500 ◦ C Concentrations can be very high at NH3
plants and can even be explosive
Medical
Breath analysis 50–2000 ppb [42,46] ∼1 min 20–40 ◦ C Diagnosis of peptic ulcer cause by
bacteria, small gas volumes

in the air. The expired ammonia levels increase exponential
with the workload. The concentration levels of interest, when
measuring expired ammonia, are in the range of 0.1 to 10 ppm
[38].
3.5. Summary of application areas
The application areas that have been discussed in this sec-
tion are summarized in Table 1. The lower ammonia concen-
tration that is of interest is given as the required lower de-
tection limit. Estimations are given for the required response
time and operation temperature.
4. Ammonia sensing principles
There are many principles for measuring ammonia de-
scribed in literature. A different sensor is used in the exhaust
pipe of automobiles than for measuring ultra-low concen-
trations of ambient ammonia for environmental monitoring.
The most frequently used techniques in commercial ammo-
nia detectors are discussed in this section. First, metal-oxide
gas sensors are described. Secondly, catalytic ammonia de-
tectors are dealt with, followed by conducting polymer am-
monia analyzers and optical ammonia detection techniques.
In the fifth sub-section, indirect systems using gas samplers
and specific chemical reactions to make a selective ammo-
nia analyzer are discussed, followed by a summary of the
described techniques.
4.1. Metal-oxide gas sensors
The ammonia sensors that have been manufactured in the
largest quantities are without doubt metal-oxide gas sensors,
mostly based on SnO2 sensors [7]. A lot of research has been
done on these types of gas sensors [7,49–53], especially in
Japan [54]. These sensors are rugged and inexpensive and
thus very promising for developing gas sensors. Many models
have been proposed that try to explain the functionality of
these types of sensors [50]. It is well established by now
that the gas sensors operate on the principle of conductance
change due to chemisorption of gas molecules to the sensing
layer.
A common model is based on the fact that metal-oxide
films consist of a large number of grains, contacting at their
boundaries [51]. The electrical behaviour is governed by the
formation of double Schottky potential barriers at the inter-
face of adjacent grains, caused by charge trapping at the inter-
face. The height of this barrier determines the conductance.
When exposed to a chemically reducing gas, like ammonia,
co-adsorption and mutual interaction between the gas and the
oxygen result in oxidation of the gas at the surface. The re-
moval of oxygen from the grain surface results in a decrease
in barrier height [52]. The energy band diagram at the grain
boundaries is shown in Fig. 6.
As can be concluded from this model, metal-oxide sensors
are not selective to one particular gas. This is a major draw-
back. Different approaches to make selective sensor systems
have been applied [55], like principle component analysis
[56], artificial neural networks, also known as the artificial
nose [4,10,57] or conductance scanning at a periodically var-
ied temperature [58]. Varying the temperature changes the
current density through a Schottky barrier but chemisorption
is also a function of the temperature. It is shown that these
two effects have a different temperature dependency for dif-
ferent gasses. Techniques have been shown to create micro-
machined isolated hotplates that can be used to miniaturize
and integrate these types of sensors on a chip [59–61].
A different approach to make selective metal-oxide gas
sensors is by using metals or additives that enhance the
672 B. Timmer et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 107 (2005) 666–677

Fig. 6. Energy band diagram showing the Schottky barrier height at the grain boundary of tin oxide without and with a chemically reducing gas [51].

chemisorption of specific gasses. WO3 based sensing ma-
terial is demonstrated to respond to NH3 and NO [62,63].
Many materials have been added to this sensing material in
order to enhance the sensitivity and the selectivity towards
these two gasses. The response to the two gasses can be ad-
justed, as is shown in Fig. 7. Known additives for optimising
the ammonia sensitivity of SnO2 based ammonia sensors are
Pd, Bi and AlSiO3 [64] or Pt and SiO2 [65].
The lowest ammonia detection limit found in literature is
1 ppm, using a WO3 ammonia sensor with Au and MoO3
additives. The sensor is operated at an elevated temperature
of more than 400 ◦ C [63]. Most sensors have even higher de-
tection limits. Normal detection limits of these sensors range
from 1 to 1000 ppm [63,66]. These sensors are commercial
available and are mainly used in combustion gas detectors
[67] or gas alarm systems, for instance for reliable ammo-
nia leakage detection in refrigeration systems [58]. First air
quality monitoring systems for regulating ventilation into the
passenger compartment in cars are being implemented.
4.2. Catalytic ammonia sensors
A great number of papers are published about reactivity of
catalytic metals to specific gases, for instance ammonia, hy-

Fig. 7. Sensitivity adjustment of a WO3 metal-oxide gas sensor to NH3 and NO at 350 ◦ C with 1 wt.% additives [62].
 B. Timmer et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 107 (2005) 666–677
drogen, carbon monoxide or organic vapours [9,68,69]. The
charge carrier concentration in the catalytic metal is altered
by a change in concentration of the gas of influence. This
change in charge carriers can be quantified using a field effect
device, like a capacitor or a transistor [70,71]. The selectivity
of these sensors depends on parameters like the used catalytic
metal, the morphology of the metal layer and the operating
temperature. Ammonia field effect transistors, gasfets, using
a palladium gate material have been shown, resulting in a
detection limit of 1 ppm.
The catalytic reaction of a metal layer with gaseous am-
monia can also be used in combination with a solid-state ion-
conducting material to form a gas-fuelled battery. These gas-
sensing systems are known as chemical cells. The catalytic
reaction at the sensing electrode will cause a change in elec-
trode potential. The resulting potential difference between the
electrode and a counter electrode, over the conducting layer,
is used to quantify the gas concentration. These sensors are
commercially available for many different gasses. The lower
detection limit is normally in the low-ppm range and the ac-
curacy is limited. A chemical cell for ammonia is presented
in literature based on an anion-exchange membrane with a
Cu electrode and an Ag/AgCl counter electrode [72].
4.3. Conducting polymer gas detectors
A third measurement principle for ammonia makes use
of polymers. Different materials have been reported, like
polypyrrole [73] and polyaniline [6,74]. The sensing mech-
anism of polypyrrole films is two-fold: first, there is an ir-
reversible reaction between ammonia and the polymer and,
secondly, ammonia can reversibly reduce the oxidized form
of polypyrrole [75]. The reduction of the polymer film causes
a change in the conductivity of the material, making it a suit-
able material for resistometric [76] or amperometric ammo-
nia detection [73]. Response times of about 4 min have been
shown [74]. The irreversible reaction with ammonia results
in an increase in mass in the polymer film. Sensors have been
described that detect ammonia using the change in frequency
of a resonator, coated with ammonia sensitive polymer [77].
However, the irreversible nature of the reaction causes the
sensitivity of the sensor to decrease over time when exposed
to ammonia [75]. Although regeneration mechanisms have
been proposed, this is a major drawback of this type of sensors
[78]. Polyaniline proved to be a much more stable conducting
polymer material. The polymer is believed to be deprotonated
by ammonia, which results in the change in conduction [79].
The lower detection limit of gas sensors based on the two
described polymers is about 1 ppm [74,79]. These sensors
are commercially available for measuring ammonia levels in
alarm systems.
4.4. Optical gas analyzers
There are two main optical principles for the detection
of ammonia described in literature. The first is based on a
673
change in colour when ammonia reacts with a reagent. With
the second principle optical absorption detection is applied
as a method to sense gasses.
4.4.1. Spectrophotometric ammonia detection
Spectrophotometry is a technique where a specific reac-
tion causes a coloration of an analyte. The best known exam-
ple is pH paper. A piece of this paper in a solution colorizes
according to the pH of the solution. There are many com-
mercially available detection kits for all kinds of ions and
dissolved gasses.
There are different coloration reactions in use for dissolved
ammonia. Best known is the Nessler reaction [80]. This am-
monia detection method is readily available and applied fre-
quently for determining the total ammonia concentration in
water, e.g. in aquaria where too high ammonia levels can
cause fish to die. The Nessler reagent consists of dipotas-
sium tetraiodomercurate(II) in a dilute alkaline solution, nor-
mally sodium hydroxide. This reagent is toxic. There is not
much literature about quantitative measurements with this
reaction [81], probably because of the disadvantages. Be-
sides the toxicity, a second disadvantage is the formation of
the non-soluble reaction product, a basic mercury(II) amido-
iodide [80], making the reaction difficult to implement in a
miniaturized detection system.
A second coloration method to measure ammonia con-
centrations in aqueous solutions is the Berthelot reaction. A
combination of ammonia, phenol and hypochlorite results in
a blue coloration [82,83]. This reaction uses less dangerous
chemicals and the reaction products are all soluble in water.
This makes it a suitable technique for integration in miniatur-
ized analysis systems [84]. One drawback of this technique is
the rather slow kinetics of the reactions. This was improved
by miniaturization in a flow-through analysis system [85].
The detection limit is about 5 ␮M of ammonia in water or
90 ppb. This technique is still under development in order to
lower the detection limit [86].
To improve the sensitivity, the detection limit of the de-
tector has to be improved. This is done by applying different
coloration principles, like thin layers of pH indicator [87],
fluorescent materials that can be used to label ammonia [88]
or a combination of the two [89]. A second option is to apply
a very sensitive detection principle, like a photon-counting
optical sensor [89] or optical waveguide structures [87] to
quantify the coloration, resulting in very sensitive, ppt range,
ammonia detectors.
4.4.2. Optical absorption ammonia detection
Optical adsorption spectroscopy is used in the most sensi-
tive and selective ammonia detectors for ambient ammonia.
Systems with a detection limit of 1 ppb, that do a full mea-
surement in 1 s, have been reported [90] Such systems use a
laser and a spectrograph. Light travels through air [91] or an
ammonia sensitive layer [92,93]. The spectrum of the light
reaching the detector is influenced by either the gas compo-
sition or the material characteristics as a function of the gas
674 B. Timmer et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 107 (2005) 666–677
Fig. 8. Ammonia transition at 6528.76 cm−1 [94].
composition. Fig. 8 shows an absorbance spectrogram found
in literature that clearly shows that ammonia can be distin-
guished from interfering gasses, like CO2 and water vapour
[94]. These systems are used in all kinds of gas analyzers in
different application areas. Optical absorbance analyzers that
measure multiple gasses are commercially available but cost
thousands of dollars.
Although very sensitive and selective ammonia detectors
are shown, there are some disadvantages when looking at
sensor systems for measuring in small volumes. First, the re-
quired equipment is very expensive. It has been tried to use
inexpensive diode-lasers to overcome this problem but this
also resulted in a decrease in sensitivity [95,96]. Secondly, the
sensitivity of absorption spectroscopy is partly determined by
the amount of gas between the light source and the detector.
For a very accurate analysis the measurement system should
be very large. Thus, miniaturization always results in an in-
crease in the lower detection limit. Therefore, this principle
is less suited for miniaturized ammonia sensors, e.g. breath
analyzers.
4.5. Indirect gas analyzers using non-selective detectors
One major drawback of most available ammonia detec-
tion principles is the poor selectivity towards ammonia com-
pared to other gasses. However, it is possible to use a non-
specific detection principle, like pH measurement or elec-
trolyte conductivity detection. In that case, the gas analysis
system should comprise a selection mechanism that allows
only the gas of interest to influence the medium surround-
ing the detector [24,97]. This can be accomplished by us-
ing gas diffusion separation with gas permeable membranes
[24,97–99].
These types of air analysis systems make use of gas sam-
plers like denuders or diffusion scrubbers to sample ammonia
into a sample liquid [97,100,101]. A major advantage of us-
ing gas samplers in ammonia sensor systems is the fact that
these systems pre-concentrate the ammonia by sampling a
large volume of the analyte gas into a much smaller volume
of liquid, where ammonium ions are formed [102]. Many
accurate ways to selectively measure low concentrations of
ammonium have been shown [24,98,99].
4.6. Summary of detection principles
The ammonia detection principles that are discussed in this
section are summarized in Table 2. The best results found in
literature are given for the described detection principles.
5. Concluding remarks
Now, the properties of the described sensors and sensor-
systems can be compared with the demands of the described
application areas, summarized in Table 2. The following con-
clusions can be drawn:
• Environmental air monitoring systems require a detection
limit of less than 1 ppb. Some optical gas sensors are suit-
able and the indirect method has a sufficiently low detec-
tion limit [24,87,90,99]. However, the optical gas sensors
are large and expensive, making them less suited. Also the
indirect method is rather large and the reagent consumption
and maintenance requirements are demanding. A smaller
system would be beneficial.
• For measuring in stables, a lower detection limit of 1 ppm
is required. All described sensor systems can be applied for
this purpose. Sensor equipment that requires much mainte-
nance is inconvenient for farmers. For instance, conducting
polymers seems less suited because regular regeneration
to prevent loss of sensitivity is required.
• For automotive exhaust applications the required detec-
tion limits are not very low, the described sensor systems
are all sufficiently sensitive. The elevated temperature in
exhaust systems excludes fluidic systems and conducting
polymer sensors. Water would evaporate from the fluidic
 B. Timmer et al. / Sensors and Actuators B 107 (2005) 666–677
Table 2
Parameters of different types of ammonia sensors and sensor systems
Principle Lower detection limit
Metal-oxide
WO3 1 ppm [63]
Catalytic metal
Palladium 1 ppm [70]
Conducting polymer
Polyaniline 1 ppm [74,79]
Optical gas sensors
Nessler 50 ␮M (90 ppb) [85]
Coulorometric 1 ppt [87]
Absorption spectroscopy 1 ppb [90]
Non-selective detectors
pH-transitions and EC detectors 100 ppt [24]
systems and conducting polymers need to be constantly re-
generated. The most suitable sensors are metal-oxide and
catalytic field effect gas sensors. These types of sensors al-
ready work at elevated temperatures and have a sufficiently
low detection limit.
• Automotive air quality monitoring systems require very
fast sensor systems, responding to increasing ammonia
concentrations in a few seconds. None of the described
sensors is fast enough.
• Chemical alarm systems do not require sensors that are ex-
tremely sensitive and the selectivity is also not that much
of an issue. Especially in reactors, the operational temper-
atures can be elevated. Overall, semiconductor- and metal-
oxide gas sensors seem the best-suited type of sensors for
these applications.
• A diagnostic breath analysis system for medical ammonia
requires a rather low detection limit of 50 ppb. The sensor
system should be very selective to ammonia. Furthermore,
the system should respond to a change in ammonia concen-
tration within a few minutes. The only ammonia sensors
performing to these criteria are optical systems. These sys-
tems however, are very large and expensive, making them
less suited. The sensitivity and the selectivity of the in-
direct method are adequate but the system requires too
much analyte gas to do analysis in a single breath of air
and the system is rather slow. Miniaturization could solve
this problem.
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